Generate js file from proto file with protoc v21.1

[patoda]

Command used -

protoc.exe --js_out=import_style=commonjs,binary:. employees.proto

Error -

'protoc-gen-js' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
--js_out: protoc-gen-js: Plugin failed with status code 1.

[wfhartford]

I encountered the same issue upgrading to version 3.21.1 from 3.20.0

[nurhusni]

I'm having a same issue. Is there any solution yet?

[elig-salt]

Really looking forward to this fix.
Would love to help in any way if I can :)

[meling]

I'm having the same issue on macOS:

protoc-gen-js: program not found or is not executable
Please specify a program using absolute path or make sure the program is available in your PATH system variable
--js_out: protoc-gen-js: Plugin failed with status code 1.

I don't see protoc-gen-js in any of the binary downloads; couldn't figure out whether or not there is a separate install for this or if it should be "included" in the protoc binary as before.

I've seen that the release notes for v21.0-rc1 link to a document explaining that javascript has been moved out of the main repository to allow it to evolve independently of protoc. However, the new protobuf-javascript repository does not provide any instructions that helps me resolve this issue.

Note that the v20.1 release provides an additional js asset that I also wasn't able to make use of. Couldn't find any useful instructions.

I downgraded to v20.1 and then I don't get this problem.

PS: I'm new to installing protobuf from the official releases; I've used brew in the past, but it seems the homebrew folks are having some problems with v20.1 as well, with v3.19.4 being the most recent working version.

[Hjw52]

I also encountered the same issue when I use the v3.21.0. which verson can I use ? I want to generate js File

[ggat]

I have the same on 3.21.2

[clehene]

@haberman 21.x breaks JS and there's no known workaround for OSX / brew
Can you take a look and provide some guidance, please

no release notes on removing JS

no way to downgrade

brew install [email protected]
==> Auto-updated Homebrew!
Updated 1 tap (homebrew/core).

Running `brew update --auto-update`...
Warning: No available formula with the name "[email protected]". Did you mean [email protected]?

 brew install [email protected]
Error: [email protected] has been disabled because it is a versioned formula!

no releases on the js split

https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf-javascript

no build instructions on the js split

https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf-javascript

the latest known working js release has no build instructions either

protobuf-js-3.20.1.tar.gz

[clehene]

workaround on OSX / brew:

brew install protobuf@3
brew link --overwrite protobuf@3

Related
Homebrew/homebrew-core#105712
Homebrew/homebrew-core#105812

[russellrc-keebo]

Installed protobuf 21.4 with homebrew, which uses protoc 3.21.4, and also got the same protoc-gen-js: program not found or is not executable error.

The suggestion by @clehene worked like a charm

[TheYoungBeast]

protobuf 21.4 Win x64 Compiler:

'protoc-gen-js' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
--js_out: protoc-gen-js: Plugin failed with status code 1.

[johejo]

My findings.

Clone protobu-javascript source code

git clone https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf-javascript
cd protobuf-javascript/
bazel build //generator:protoc-gen-js # It might be better to use bazelisk as a launcher for bazel.

protoc-gen-js's executable is in bazel-bin/generator/

$ ls bazel-bin/generator/protoc-gen-js
bazel-bin/generator/protoc-gen-js

Pass the path to the plugin option in protoc

protoc --plugin=/path/to/protoc-gen-js

Someday there might be a formal migration guide from the protocolbuffers team.

[srabraham]

Thanks for that, @johejo. I'm trying to figure out how in the world to get this working in a Bazel context, in which we use a third party JS gRPC proto generator (rules-proto-grpc), and that thing calls into protoc, expecting protoc to know what to do to generate JS protos. Ugh..

[dibenede]

We are currently working on releasing binaries for protoc-gen-js, but it should be possible to build. You can find some better examples of the plugin invocation here: https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf-javascript/blob/main/docs/index.md

[tinder-dthomson]

@pietrodn I wouldn't consider that a solution. grpc-tools latest version is still only on protobuf version 3.19.1, which is before this issue even occurs.

[pietrodn]

Thanks for the info, I wrongly assumed that at least the official grpc-tools would be up to date. The more I use grpc, the more disappointed I am.

[adrianimboden]

I also build the protoc-gen-js myself now. For future reference, the command protoc --plugin=/path/to/protoc-gen-js is not correct.

You have to use protoc --plugin=protoc-gen-js=/path/to/protoc-gen-js when protoc-gen-js is not the path.

[princeje]

I also build the protoc-gen-js myself now. For future reference, the command protoc --plugin=/path/to/protoc-gen-js is not correct.

You have to use protoc --plugin=protoc-gen-js=/path/to/protoc-gen-js when protoc-gen-js is not the path.

Can you explain how you built protoc-gen-js? I'm trying to create a grpc client with Angular and javascript to use with my existing grpc server. I have .proto files but nothing is working to generate .js/.ts files.

[adrianimboden]

If you have an Angular/Javascript project, why does https://www.npmjs.com/package/protoc-gen-js from @yinzara not work for you?

If you want to build it for yourself, it depends on which platform you are. For Linux/WSL2 or OSX, it is quite easy. Here the example for a linux x86_64 system (written as a Dockerfile):

FROM debian:bullseye

# install prerequisites
#  git: to download the repositoryy
#  curl: to download/install bazel (the build system)
#  build-essential: to build protoc-gen-js (C/C++ compiler)
RUN \
  apt-get update && \
  apt-get install -y git curl build-essential

# install bazel
RUN \
  curl -sL https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel/releases/download/6.1.2/bazel-6.1.2-linux-x86_64 > /usr/local/bin/bazel && \
  chmod +x /usr/local/bin/bazel

# build and install protoc-gen-js
RUN \
  git clone https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf-javascript.git && \
  cd protobuf-javascript && \
  bazel build //generator:protoc-gen-js && \
  cp bazel-bin/generator/protoc-gen-js /usr/local/bin/protoc-gen-js

# protoc-gen-js is now installed in /usr/local/bin/protoc-gen-js

For windows, it should also work (bazel and stuff is also available), but that is a whole different story.

[lily-es]

The "official first party solution" is to simply download the latest release from this repo and add it to your PATH.
No need to build from source, no need to download any npm packages.

They should really update the README with these instructions and close this issue, as there is no real problem here. Not including the javascript runtime in the main protobuf installation was a conscious decision by the protobuf team, and now that there are proper pre-built binaries for this up for download, the only problem left is the lack of instructions really.

[Siedlerchr]

@lily-es Thanks very much! That hint helped me a lot.
I have created a download and unzip task for kotlin and configuration of the gradle plugin as well here:
https://gist.github.com/Siedlerchr/0fd9e463f6ffa2ea3c4b5e5ae3e5889e

[wolfgang-braun]

The "official first party solution" is to simply download the latest release from this repo and add it to your PATH. No need to build from source, no need to download any npm packages.

They should really update the README with these instructions and close this issue, as there is no real problem here. Not including the javascript runtime in the main protobuf installation was a conscious decision by the protobuf team, and now that there are proper pre-built binaries for this up for download, the only problem left is the lack of instructions really.

@lily-es This was actually what I tried first. But it doesn't work:

Using an alpine docker image I download the following releases from GitHub:

ENV PROTOC_VERSION=24.0
ENV PROTO_GEN_JS_VERSION=3.21.2
ENV PROTO_GEN_JS_GRPC_VERSION=1.4.2

• ls /usr/local/bin/ returns protoc protoc-gen-grpc-web protoc-gen-js
• echo $PATH returns ...:/usr/local/bin:...
• which protoc returns /usr/local/bin/protoc
• which protoc-gen-js returns /usr/local/bin/protoc-gen-js

(All bin files are executable of course)

And finally

• protoc --js_out=js proto/test.proto returns:

/usr/local/bin/protoc-gen-js: program not found or is not executable
Please specify a program using absolute path or make sure the program is available in your PATH system variable
--js_out: protoc-gen-js: Plugin failed with status code 1.

---

Something's still wrong.

What's strange to me: executing protoc-gen-js directly returns not found

[tinder-dthomson]

The "official first party solution" is to simply download the latest release from this repo and add it to your PATH. No need to build from source, no need to download any npm packages.

They should really update the README with these instructions and close this issue, as there is no real problem here. Not including the javascript runtime in the main protobuf installation was a conscious decision by the protobuf team, and now that there are proper pre-built binaries for this up for download, the only problem left is the lack of instructions really.

Then you have to put in tooling to download the correct binary depending on OS. I'd rather just build from source and let bazel figure that out, that way we have one set of instructions common for all OS.

[wolfgang-braun]

Thanks for that, @johejo. I'm trying to figure out how in the world to get this working in a Bazel context, in which we use a third party JS gRPC proto generator (rules-proto-grpc), and that thing calls into protoc, expecting protoc to know what to do to generate JS protos. Ugh..

@tinder-dthomson

My tooling is a simple bash script that checks uname -m and selects the correct file based on that.

btw in my case I did use the correct download, and it didn't work:

• uname -m returns aarch64
• I downloaded protobuf-javascript-3.21.2-linux-aarch_64.zip

Edit

Found the solution:

The binary doesn't support musl libc but glibc.
Alpine uses musl libc. For this reason the binary couldn't be executed.
See also #153

➡ Using a linux image with glibc (e.g. Debian image) solved the issue. The precompiled binaries work as expected.

[brunacat]

i'm having this problem. Using protoc version 24.0 and protoc-gen-grpc-web 1.4.2.
I also installed the protoc-gen-js package 3.21.2
is there any other package i need or version?

[funktionslust]

i'm having this problem. Using protoc version 24.0 and protoc-gen-grpc-web 1.4.2.

I also installed the protoc-gen-js package 3.21.2

is there any other package i need or version?

@brunacat nothing else is needed.

• simply download the latest version of these three binaries for the correct platform / architecture
• place them in a folder that is listed in your PATH variable without renaming the files
• make sure all of them are executable (chmod +x)
• when using Linux make sure to not to rely on musl libc
• run protoc with the correct arguments

[ouzhou]

download protoc and protobuf-javascript

run this
./protoc-25.1-osx-aarch_64/bin/protoc --plugin=./protobuf-javascript-3.21.2-osx-x86_64/bin/protoc-gen-js
--js_out=library=myproto_libs,binary:. a.proto

[Type1J]

Found the solution:

The binary doesn't support musl libc but glibc. Alpine uses musl libc. For this reason the binary couldn't be executed. See also #153

➡ Using a linux image with glibc (e.g. Debian image) solved the issue. The precompiled binaries work as expected.

I was using an Alpine (musl) based container, but switched to a Debian (glibc) based one. Thanks! Since musl is usually statically linked, the binary release would serve a wider audience if it used musl instead of glibc, which is usually dynamically linked.

[txthinking]

install protoc-gen-js via nami

nami install protoc-gen-js

[luangong]

You can now install protoc-gen-js via Homebrew:

brew install protoc-gen-js

and then run protoc like this:

protoc --js_out=import_style=commonjs,binary:. employees.proto

[sianami123]

same error on protoc-27.2-win64.
how fix it?
what is correct protoc command?

[kms0219kms]

@sianami123 you didn't do nothing wrong. you just forgot to install protoc-gen-js.
Go to https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf-javascript/releases and install it that suitable for your operation system.

[DanyHenriquez]

I am a Go dev/DevOps engineer and need to generate some simple JS client.

How many setups this project has broken is just not right. I appreciate and value the work you do, but this isn't good project management considering how many people use this.

FYI: I have wasted so much time troubleshooting and reconfiguring many pipelines.